Nebraska
by bookwormtsb
Summary: It's Galveston, Texas and Ball High School has two new students. One's a whack-a-doodle and one's a prom queen.
1. Chapter 1

_Penny's POV_

_Bang_! The pick up's peeling red door slammed shut. This was it. Ball High School. Galveston, Texas. I sighed and shouldered my Karrimor backpack and raised my hand in a sort of acknowledgement to my brother TJ who was currently slumped in the passenger seat of my old beat up Ford pick up truck. TJ was wearing a burgundy t-shirt with 'OMAHA' splayed across the chest and a pair of beat up jeans. His shoes were an ancient pair of greying addidas sneakers with forest green stripes. TJ really looked the part of a Ball High School student.

Students filtered past the pick up, a few dressed in purple and yellow hoods with tornadoes printed on the chest. They were obviously the jocks. Pretty girls walked along side them wearing skimpy plaid skirts and tanks. The class clown sorts of kids were off to the side. Dressed in jeans and sweaters and laughing at each other's jokes. There were a few girls in that group, pretty girls who were wearing sweaters and shorts and laughing as they told their own jokes. This could have been Omaha, except I wasn't clinging to the muscled arm of one of the jock guys and TJ wasn't with the class clown kids telling jokes and drinking bourbon out of a paper bag. No, I reminded myself, this was Galveston. Galveston was a new start for all of us.

_Sheldon's POV_

"Go away Missy." I moaned into my pillow as my twin sister wrenched back my curtains. My retinas felt like they were on fire. "Get up Sheldon." She said angrily and whipped the duvet off my bed. I was sleeping in an M.I.T. t-shirt and my 'Flash' boxer shorts. She grabbed a fistful of my too big t-shirt and growled, "Shelly I'm not messin' with you. Get out of bed cause I'm gonna have to drive you to school. An' take off this t-shirt. It'll only upset Ma." I rolled onto my front and stared blearily at the ceiling.

"I'm not goin' Missy." I said calmly.

"Yes you are." She argued back as she rifled through my drawers and pulled out a navy sweater and threw it at my head. "Now put that on and go to school." I rolled my eyes at the ceiling.

"Number one, I'm not going and two, I'm gonna need pants if I'm going to school." A pair of distressed jeans and chequered boxers collided with the side of my head. I kept as still as possible, at least until a can of deodorant flew through the air and hit my face. "Ow Missy what'cha think ya doin'?" I grumbled and rolled onto my side. "Shelly Lee Cooper I swear to God I will ring up MeeMaw." I was out of bed like a shot. "You wouldn't dare Missy." I growled at her in as low a voice as I could muster. "I would too Shelly Bean. So you get your rump into those jeans and you meet me downstairs in 5." I ripped my t-shirt over my head and threw it at the recently closed door. Mum hated that t-shirt. She was always saying it had no place in Galveston. I think she means I have no place in Galveston, it destroyed her when I went to college at 11, when I went to Germany aged 14 and when I got my PhD aged 16. That was right, Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper. But here I was, having already graduated from University I was being forced into spending my junior and senior year at Ball High School, how utterly ridiculous. I dressed quickly and doused myself with a blast of deodorant before pulling on the boxers and jeans. I pulled open a drawer on my tall boy and pulled out a tennis camp t-shirt that certainly belonged to my brother George. I pulled the sweatshirt over my head and observed myself in the oval mirror on the wall. I don't really look like Missy. I mean we're both tall, have brown hair and blue eyes but that's where the similarity ends. Missy is deemed to be a 'heart throb' by the majority of Galveston. Her hair is long and falls in perfect curls. She has pretty, china doll skin and full pink lips. My nose is freckled and my skin a light tan, my hair is straight and untidy unless it's clipped really short which I hate. My eyes are blue and my eyelashes a muddy colour. I turn away from my reflection and pick up my ancient old yellow backpack off the floor before heading downstairs. George Jr. was sitting at the kitchen table slurping his way through some milky sugar puffs. He looked up when I came in. "Hiya Doc." He said in an irritatingly condescending voice. "Shut up Junior." I said before ramming my headphones on and plugging them into my Walkman. George kept his navy eyes trained on mine. "Don't you go getting too big for your plimsolls Shelly, I know exactly what's up. You think you're so high and mighty don't you? How come a girl's never even looked at you Shell? Or a boy for that matter, you'd like that though Shelly. Que-" I stormed out of the kitchen before he could continue. I stood on the deck for a few minutes trying to calm myself down. I stared at the houses across the way and swore angrily. Why couldn't I be off working on something that could benefit humanity? I grumbled, stepped off the porch and climbed into Missy's mint Mustang.

_Penny's POV_

There seemed to be a million students at Ball. I had no idea where to go so just decided to follow this really cute tall blonde jock to his car, which was a beat up old mini. "Hey there." I said making my presence known. The cute guy looked really nice and smiley. "You must be Nebraska." He said and winked, Nebraska, I liked it. He put his books on the bonnet and leaned against it. "That's me." I said and grinned. "The name's Penny." He nodded.

"Like the coin." I laughed genuinely this guy was cute.

"Yeah I guess, I don't suppose your name is dime?" He burst out laughing and shook his head, making his neat hair come loose into an untidy fringe.

"Luc." He said and picked up his books. "You going to Mr. Davner's English class?" I nodded and he gestured with his head towards the main building. We walked with our shoulders rubbing together. We talked about Omaha and Ball and English. He was cute and talkative and already I was beginning to feel more comfortable. That's when some stupid jerk knocked me over and touched my boob. "Oi dick wad what do you think you're doing?" Luc snarled and pulled the guy to his feet. I don't know what I was expecting, some guy with bad acne, a mullet and glasses with tape? He was a good three inches taller than Luc with messy brown hair and cheekbones. He was stick thin and kind of cute with these huge blue eyes and dimples. He blushed scarlet. "I'm, I mean I didn't mean to push you over. Have I caused you any harm?" His tone was completely sincere. Heck the boy looked like he way going to cry. "I'm fine." I said before turning to Luc. "Let him go Luc, it was an accident." Luc nodded as though it physically hurt him and pushed the guy away from him. We finally reached English class and I took a seat next to Luc up at the back of the room. "Who was that guy?" I whispered to Luc as the teacher began to talk about Shakespeare or something. Luc put his hand over his mouth and tilted his head towards me. "Sheldon Cooper. He's kind of new here." Luc whispered back.

"Kind of?" I asked as quietly as possible.

"Well he's like crazy clever. Child genius or something, he left for college when he was 11 so we never saw him past elementary school. He's already got a PhD."

"Wow." I said feeling slightly speechless.

"Yeah pretty much wow. He's got an older brother who's a right jackass. Never turned up to school and when he did he was in detention. He's got a twin sister too. I'm friends with her; she's really nice and normal. Sheldon's a bit crazy. This is his first day back at normal school. His momma wants him to learn how to socialise." I nodded as he spoke but kept my eyes fixed on the front of the room, two rows forward and three seats to the right where Sheldon Cooper was sitting with his shoulders hunched over the table and scribbling fervently in a small black notebook. The kid may be kind of cute but he was most certainly a whack-a-doodle.


	2. Chapter 2

_Penny's POV_

"So TJ," Mum said slowly as she carefully ladled minestrone soup into his bowl. "How's life as a freshman at Ball?" TJ rolled his eyes and spooned some orange-y soup into his mouth. I glared at him across the table, _be nice, _it clearly said. TJ stuck his tongue out at me, which was pretty disgusting seeing as there was a tiny bit of shell shaped pasta clinging to it. "It's good Ma. I like it here." Mum nodded in approval and began ladling soup into my own bowl. "What about you Pen? Meet any cute boys?" She gave me a wink and mouthed '_later' _at me as TJ made an overly dramatic retching noise. "I met the neighbours today!" Mum announced in attempt to break up the glaring match between TJ and me. "Oh yeah?" I said through a mouthful of soup.

"Lovely woman, Mary's her name. She's got three kids; two of them are your age Pen so maybe you could go introduce yourself tomorrow? We could even sort out a car pool between you guys?" I nodded and took another mouthful of soup as my Mum sat down to eat her own food.

Dinner was a quiet affair as Dad was still in Omaha sorting out finalities with the farm and Beverly was probably in her room crying down the phone to her boyfriend Brad from back home. TJ finished his bowl first and deposited it by the sink before disappearing upstairs with a mumbled thanks. Mum leant across to me and took my hands that were resting on the table. "Made any friends today Pen?" I loved talks like this with my mum.

"Yup, this really cute guy called Luc but that's about it…" I trailed off and Ma shot me a pointed look. "Who else Pen?" I rolled my eyes and settled back in my chair.

"Just some dude that bumped into me in the corridor, that's it Ma. Stop worrying about me. It's Bev you should be worrying about, her and that jerk Brad." Ma tutted and turned to face the sink, "That girl needs to move on from that boy! He's no good an' he ain't goin' nowhere n this world!" I allowed her to ramble on and dumped my bowl before starting up the stairs. "Hey Pen where d'ya think you're going? If you're done here go sort out a carpool with next door." Her words left no room for dispute so trudged out of the door without bothering to slip on shoes and tiptoed across our slightly dewy lawn to the house next door, which was pretty much identical to ours apart from the tyre swing in the front yard. I realised as I shivered slightly on their deck that maybe I should have put on something more that my skimpy hello kitty shorts and strappy top, both were _totally _cute though so that's okay right? I gently knocked at the door and peered through the peephole when there was no sign of movement. I heard the rumble of a voice came from somewhere deep inside of the house and suddenly the door had been pulled open and I tumbled onto the doormat and a pair of socked feet. "Um are you quite alright?" Sheldon Cooper. Holy crap on a cracker, I knew that voice. I jumped up like a spooked colt and carefully dusted myself off. "Can I offer you a hot beverage?" Sheldon offered awkwardly and avoided my gaze.

"Er no I'm alright I just came over to see if you wanted to sort out a carpool or something?" He looked stricken and grabbed onto the door for support.

"Carpool, you mean to say that we would be sharing a car?" He asked looking more panicked by the second. I nodded slowly.

_BANG! _The door swung shut in my face.

_Sheldon's POV_

Share a car with a complete stranger? Was this scantily clad girl 'pranking' me? I didn't know her driver's records, the age of her car, whether it had recently had an MOT! How on Earth did she expect me to ride in it with her?

"Shelly?" Ma called from the kitchen, "Was that a girl at the door?" Before I had a chance to reply there was a sharp whistle and Junior emerged into the hallway, "You mean to say our Shelly was with a girl Ma? Is the rapture comin'?" he sniggered and winked at me he swigged a mouthful of beer and returned to the living room. "Yeah Mama, she suggested that I share a car with her!" I called out enraged.

"So she came round here to offer y'all a carpool an you just slammed the door in her face?" Ma said as she came out of kitchen drying her hands on a tea towel.

"Yeah." Ma scrutinized me with a powerful glare.

"Sheldon Lee Cooper, I want you to forget about this car hokum and go round next door to apologize!" I rolled my eyes and shoved my feet angrily to my sneakers before slamming the door with as much dignity as I could muster.

_Penny's POV_

That boy really was a complete Whack-a-Doodle, you'd have thought that I'd asked him to ride in the car while I drove it off a cliff, not to Ball High School for Jeepers' sake! I pulled open the screen door to my own house and promptly marched upstairs. "Pen?" Ma called confusedly at my back. I ignored her, rushed to bedroom and threw myself on my bed. Who did this Sheldon Cooper think he was, all high and mighty with his IQ and Ph-whatsit? I sighed heavily and rolled over onto my side so that I could see a slither of the street and the Cooper's house through my window, all the lights were on apart from the room facing mine, which was completely dark, and I could just make out some trophies glinting slightly on the windowsill. I closed my eyes but the light of my purple and orange lava lamp was still showed through my eyelids. I turned over onto my front and buried my face into my pillow.

_Sheldon's POV_

_Knock, knock, knock. _I tapped out on the frame of the sliding screen door of our next-door neighbours house. I realised suddenly that I didn't know the names of the residents so couldn't continue with my carefully constructed knocking pattern. Three knocks and the person's name repeated three times. It doesn't allow margin for the person to not hear you as the whole routine was unmistakably a person knocking at the door and couldn't be mistaken for an animal or a creak unless they were partaking in an activity such as showering, listening to music or operating heavy machinery. I was fairly certain that it wasn't the latter. Eventually a middle-aged woman with a bob and rosy cheeks came to the door. "Er, hi I'm here to see…" _Who was I here to see? The pretty blonde girl from school? _I stumbled over my words. "I'm Sheldon Cooper, nice to meet you." I extended my hand, which she shook before brushing some of hair out of her eyes. "You here to see Penny?" I nodded.

"Penny! A guy called," She looked at me before lowering her voice, "Sorry Sheldon was it?" I nodded. "Sheldon is here to see you!" She hollered upstairs. A minute later Penny appeared on the stairs in a pair of skimpy pink shorts and a tank.

"Do you want to come upstairs?" Penny asked somewhat shyly and I nodded before cutting across the kitchen. As we climbed the stairs, not speaking, Penny's mother called at our retreating backs, "Keep your door open!"


	3. Chapter 3

_Penny's POV_

Seriously, the snooze button should not exist. If Satan was a button he'd be the snooze button. I had never been the most punctual of people but I normally got by by making sure I looked pretty when I did turn up. Today however, I _had _to be punctual today seeing as it was the first day of the carpool. That's right, I was driving the weird genius kid from next door to school. To be fair, he wasn't that weird. When we'd got up to my room he'd stood awkwardly in the corner until I invited him to sit next to me on the bed. The poor guy was practically shaking with fear; I don't think he'd ever been in a girl's bedroom before. But he'd been nice enough, a bit intense and maybe a little aloof but at least he wasn't some perverted jerk like most guys his age. So that brings me back to the snooze button and the fact that I had five minutes to get ready _and _go get Sheldon. I darted around the room in my panties and bra, toothbrush hanging out of my mouth. I grabbed an old grey Huskers t-shirt of the floor and pulled it over my head knocking my toothbrush out of my mouth and halfway across the room. A stream of swearwords tumbled out of my mouth and a moment later my mother roared: "LANGUAGE!" up the stairs, I grabbed my toothbrush in one hand a pair of navy sweatpants in the other before rushing out of my door and down the hall to our bathroom. I shoved my feet into the leg holes of my sweats and pulled my hair up into what could only be described a pineapple like hair-do. I dropped my toothbrush in the sink and quickly splashed my face with water. "Penny! You're going to be late!" TJ hollered up the stairs. I forgot that I'd be driving him as well, _dammit. _I hurried back down the corridor and grabbed a pair of sport socks and my school bag before taking the stairs three at a time and landing ungracefully on the linoleum kitchen floor. "You were a bit shaky on the landing, but I'd give you a 9.2" TJ sneered before biting into a thickly buttered piece of toast. I flicked him off before sliding my feet into my ancient old pair of Nike track shoes. I grabbed TJ's wrist and pushed him out of the door before swinging my backpack onto my shoulders and sprinting across the lawn.

_Sheldon's POV_

I reached out groggily for the snooze button on my alarm clock and upon finding it smashed my fist against it. It slipped off the bedside cabinet and continued to shrill. I mentally berated myself and climbed out of bed. I picked up the clock and removed its batteries. I placed both batteries and clock on the cabinet and headed towards the bathroom. I picked up a can of body spray and doused myself before using my dry stick deodorant and splashing my face with cold water. I dried myself off on a towel and stepped back into my bedroom. I fished out a navy tight fitted t-shirt and a pair of jeans and got dressed quickly. I had to be ready earlier today so that Penny could come pick me up. Penny, my neighbour, _friend? _She seemed very nice, very nice indeed. Maybe slightly scantily clad and her intelligence was considerably lower than my own, but she did seem nice. I picked up my comb and ran it through my untidy mop of brown hair so that I had a sort of parting. I went back into the bathroom and stared at my reflection, due to a full cycle of REM sleep I looked quite fresh faced and my hair was a bit untidy but all together I looked quite presentable. I wet my toothbrush under the tap and squirted some mint coloured toothpaste onto the head. The egg timer on the shelf counted out 2 minutes as I brushed thoroughly. Someone knocked on the front door downstairs. I grabbed my old backpack from off the floor and raced downstairs, grabbed a stack of toast in one hand and swooped across to the door before tugging it open. Penny was standing on the front porch looking tired and bleary eyed. "Morning Penny." I said quickly before offering her a slice of toast from the stack I was holding.

"Morning Sheldon." Penny looked past me into the kitchen. "Missy, you sure you don't want a lift?" She called out to my sister who was sitting eating cereal at the breakfast table. Missy shook her head and swallowed before replying,

"No thanks hun, I'm being driven in by Alex." Penny nodded and waved slightly to Missy before starting towards her car.

"TJ's in the back by the way, so you're riding shotgun!" She called out behind her as she climbed into the front seat of her battered red pick up. _Who on Earth was TJ? _I thought as I made my way around the other side of the pick up and climbed in. TJ apparently was the tall boy with sandy blonde hair sprawled out on the back seats nodding his head to his Walkman. I settled down in my seat, trying my hardest not to think about the fact that I didn't know anything about the history of this car. Whether it had been in any accidents, had any repairs done- _no. _I stopped my train of thought and tried to focus on something else. The engine roared to life and Penny gently eased us off the driveway and onto the street. I lay my head against the headrest and stared out the window as the houses rolled past. "Who's Alex?" Penny asked with her eyes still, _thankfully_, on the road.

"Missy's boyfriend." I said simply as we turned a corner onto the avenue that school was on. Penny nodded but was silent. "Do you have a boyfriend Penny?" What was I thinking? Was she dating that meathead blonde guy from yesterday? Questions whizzed through my mind.

"No, do you have a girlfriend?" Penny asked as we turned into the school gates.

"No I don't, of course not, no." I stumbled out.

_Penny's POV _

There was this awkward sort of silence that stretched between us. Why on Earth did Sheldon want to know if I had a boyfriend or not? I pulled up into an empty space in the lot; TJ jumped out almost immediately and ran over to a bunch of about 5 freshmen that were leaning casually against the West wing of the school. I turned to Sheldon who was staring at me. "Yeah?" I asked quietly. He leaned forwards slightly so that our bodies were closer. I felt my lips immediately pout. _WHAT WAS I DOING? _Anticipation and adrenalin seared through my veins. Sheldon's eyes weren't focused on mine anymore. I gently closed my eyes and leant forward. "Penny." Sheldon said and I if I hadn't been buckled in my seat I may have fallen out of it in surprise. His tone wasn't all husky and kiss-_me_-ish. No it was his plain old, a little intense and maybe a bit aloof tone. "Your check engine light is on."


	4. Chapter 4

_Sheldon's POV_

The locker room was steamy and uncomfortably full of muscled jocks walking around in varying degrees of undress. I pulled off my Captain America t-shirt and quickly rummaged through my gym bag for the Ball High School t-shirt. Alas, I was not quick enough, a towel whipped across my back. The owner of the towel was none other than Luc Moon, the guy that Penny always hung out with.

"Hey wiener," Luc greeted with another whip of the towel, this time to the bare stretch of skin by my floating rib. I winced slightly. The pain wasn't too bad, I'd put up with worse from Junior. Finally, I found the slightly oversized marl grey t-shirt with the signature yellow tornado on front and my surname printed in purple on the back. In my scramble to pull the t-shirt over my head I succeeded in putting it on backwards which resulted in raucous laughter from the gaggle of boys that were changing around me, even the debate club president was sniggering.

I tried in vain to make it out but the circle of adolescents had tightened around me so that I was unable to move, "look dude, I'm going to give you an ultimatum, you leave Penny alone and I'll leave you alone. She's never going to like a pathetic weasel like you and you're just getting in my way, understand?" I nodded as a furious blush crept up my neck. The huddle widened slightly and I rushed out of the locker room and out into the gym hall as quickly as I could.

_Penny's POV_

_Oh God. _Why the hell did I want Sheldon to kiss me? Did I want Sheldon to kiss me? Questions bounced around my brain at about 100mph. I had no idea what I was doing with Sheldon. Did I like him? Or did I like Luc? _It's just human nature to pucker up when someone looks like they're going to kiss you _I decided. The calculus teacher at the front of the room was droning on about something that I didn't really care much about so elected to doodle in the margin of my notebook. As the board filled up with complicated formulas and diagrams my notebook margins slowly filled up as well but with something completely different to Maths. At the end of the hour period I was embarrassed to find tiny drawings of lips and Sheldon Cooper's name doodled in varying fonts.

_Sheldon's POV_

Gym had never been my favourite subject but this particular occasion was dreadful. Luc and his cronies were particularly violent and sent balls flying towards my head and there was the promise of them cornering me in the locker rooms after class.

"COOPER!" The coach, a red faced man without much neck screamed at me from across the hall, "GET YOUR ASS OVER ONTO THIS BENCH, YOU'VE BEEN STANDING STOCK STILL IN A GAME OF _DODGEBALL_ FOR THE PAST TEN MINUTES!" I mumbled an apology and tried to slip off the court without being too conspicuous. The last half hour of the class was spent trying to avoid the rogue balls that Luc Moon was _accidentally _sending in my direction.

_Penny's POV_

I walked out to my car after class had finished, TJ had caught a lift home with one of his friends and Sheldon had gym so I figured he'd be a bit late getting out. I swung my rucksack onto the bonnet of my truck and climbed up there myself so my back was resting against the windshield. The day was slightly overcast and it looked as though the skies might explode with a downpour of rain any minute now. "Hurry up Sheldon," I mumbled to myself and pulled my knees up to my chest.

Students filed past me as they made their own way home and there was still no sign of Sheldon anywhere. I'd seen a couple of guys from his gym class but no one I could put a name to. Just as I was starting to wonder if I should go check on him Luc appeared in the on the other side of the parking lot and as soon as he spotted me made a beeline in my direction.

"Hey!" I waved as he approached the truck. Luc grinned and pushed himself up onto the bonnet of my car.

"Hey you," I blushed slightly as he looked at me.

"Do you know where Sheldon is?" I asked as he settled back against the windshield. I wasn't sure if I imagined it but I could have sworn that an angry grimace crossed Luc's features for a fleeting moment.

"Oh yeah, coach held him back for a couple of minutes, he mucked up big time in a game of dodge ball." Luc shifted slightly closer to me so that our legs and arms were pressed together.

"Is he okay?" I asked quietly. Luc nodded and shifted closer again so that his arm was hooked around my shoulders.

"Penny, I didn't come over here to talk about Sheldon, I wanted to tell you something," he took a deep breath, "I'm really into you and I think we should date, if you're cool with that." Luc fixed me with a piercing stare and slowly leaned in, both of us still had our eyes open as our lips touched. _God, _I hadn't kissed anyone since my rat of an ex boyfriend, Len, from back home in Nebraska. I'd forgotten how nice another person's lips felt on my own. Slowly the arm that Luc had around my arm tightened so that our chests crashed together, then it was a furious dance of tongues and our fingers tangling in the other's hair.

_Sheldon's POV_

Luc had stolen my clothes and thrown them in the showers. I pulled a sodden Captain America t-shirt off the floor with a twinge of remorse. I wrung out as much water as I could before dumping my damp clothes into my kit bag and wondered if my Ma would realise something was up when I turned up at home in my sports kit.

I glanced at the clock, school had ended ages ago and Penny would still be waiting. With a new lease of energy, I gathered up my things and jogged out the back entrance of the hall and around the tennis courts. There were still a couple of cars in the lot, but Penny's beat up red truck stood out, plus I knew where we'd parked that morning, having an eidetic memory did come in particularly useful at times.

As I got closer and closer to the car I noticed two shapes on the bonnet of her car, a Penny sized shape was kissing the other shape frantically. The other shape's t-shirt read 'Moon' _why was Penny kissing Luc? _Without even thinking I started sprinting towards the exit, as I ran two thoughts floated around my head:

(1) I guess it was quite a good day to wear trainers

(2) Why does it feel like my heart has been ripped out of the front of chest?


	5. Chapter 5

A.N.: OKAY, HI, THIS IS A QUICK AUTHOR'S NOTE TO JUST SAY THANKS FOR REVIEWING, I IMAGINED THIS CHAPTER WITH THE SONG 'NO ONE HERE- THE 88' AS A BACKING TRACK :-) Please review after reading, I accept anonymous reviews and I love hearing what you guys think. P.S. Feel free to PM at any time, I like talking, a lot

_Sheldon's POV_

_Seriously universe? Seriously? _The heavens seemed to open up and huge fat drops of rain fell on my head. My grey t-shirt stuck to my body like Lycra and gushing rivulets rolled down my legs and into my already sodden sneakers. _This was surely pathetic fallacy at it's best, _I decided as thunder clapped overhead. I kept running. I couldn't afford to stop. I stopped caring about the fact that I lived over three miles away from school and the fact that I would probably catch pneumonia before I made it home. I stopped caring about the fact that my only friend in this goddamn town was probably engaging in coitus in the back of her pick up with some jock. I stopped caring about the fact that my IQ of 187 would land me a Nobel Prize in the future but for now I was destined to see my friends kissing jackasses, having my clothes stolen and being stuffed in lockers. I just stopped caring. Lightning illuminated the sky and I slipped on the curb. I fell forwards onto the road and skinned the whole of my calf. The blood mingled with the water and gravel stuck to the fairly deep wound, but I didn't care, not really.

Penny's POV

I'm pretty sure we transferred to the back seat of my pick up by magic or something, because about ten minutes later I was lying on the seat with Luc holding himself up by him forearms. _DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! _We were just kissing, fully clothed. We hadn't really stopped kissing since we'd started apart from mumbling things like- 'oh my' or 'mmm' against each other's lips. Luc's hand had slipped from my hair as we kissed and had slowly made it's was down to the very bottom of my t-shirt. I could feel the tips of his fingers splayed out across the very bottom of my stomach. His hand was steadily creeping up my shirt and towards the bottom of my bra. His fingers traced lightly over my belly button, which made me squirm uncomfortably, I was really ticklish on my stomach. "Hey, what's up?" Luc must have noticed my discomfort and stopped kissing me. His eyebrow was cocked and his hair was hanging in two unbearably cute messy curtains. His mouth was slightly open and I could see his front teeth. The kissing had made his lips a little swollen and red. He looked kind of like Leonardo Dicaprio in Titanic.

"Nothing, just ticklish I guess," Luc exhaled heavily and rolled onto his side with his back facing the very edge of the seat.

"Oh," I tilted my head up backwards so that I could see out of the window. I was surprised to see the windows streaked with rain and rain pounding against the pick up.

"I'd hate to be out there in that weather," I mused aloud; Luc gave a non-committal grunt and gently kissed my jawbone.

"Everyone's gone home anyway," Luc murmured and started playing with my hair. _Everyone's gone home anyway. _The words stuck with me as though I'd forgotten something crucial but couldn't quite remember what it was.

"Sheldon." Suddenly I remembered and the image of a dripping wet Sheldon traipsing home by the side of the road sprang to the forefront of my mind. As I came to the realisation that I'd abandoned the poor guy on his second day of school in a thunderstorm I sat up quickly which caused Luc to jerk up and hit his head on the roof of my pickup truck. Luc swore colourfully, I won't go into detail about what he said exactly but it started with 'f' and ended with 'uck' and it sure as hell wasn't fire truck.

"Luc move! I've left Sheldon and he'll be soaked to the skin!" Luc grumbled and rubbed the red mark that had sprung up near his hairline. Soon the pick up was fired up with Luc sprawled across the back seats with a lukewarm can of grape soda pressed to his forehead. I didn't even take my foot of the accelerator once as the truck raced down the tree-lined streets of Galveston. I looked out for the lanky frame of Sheldon Cooper.

Someone darted out in front of us and I skidded to a stop, the tail of the car span out so that it covered the width of the road. Luc tumbled out of his seat and hit his head for the second time on the front passenger seat, this time he just screeched, "_JESUS CHRIST!" _

I threw open the door of the pick up and looked around for the person that nearly caused up to crash and discovered them with a sinking sensation collapsed on the shallow bank of grass at the side of the road. Sheldon, it was Sheldon. There was blood, blood on the road, blood on the grass and blood all over Sheldon _Oh God Sheldon. _I sank to my knees on the grass next to him. His breath was coming out in short raspy gasps. His hair was plastered over his eyes and his chest was shuddering. Terrified, I tried to roll him onto his side. I'd forgotten everything that I knew about first aid, admittedly my knowledge was non existent seeing as I'd been batting my eyes at the twenty something, beach bum instructor throughout the hour long mandatory session back home in Nebraska.

"In-" Sheldon gasped and allowed his head to flop back. _In? _"hale," he managed to stumble out, "er," _Inhaler. _I scrambled into a half sitting position and searched the pockets of Sheldon's basketball shorts. Empty. I tugged up his t-shirt and there it was, a blue inhaler tucked neatly in the waistband of his shorts just above his green and blue striped boxer briefs. I pulled off the cap and shoved the mouthpiece in between his slightly parted lips and pressed hard on the top of the cartridge. Sheldon choked for a moment before breathing in. I sighed in relief, just an asthma attack, he wasn't going to die on me. I gave the inhaler another pump and this time Sheldon coughed out and sat up slowly. His eyes were unfocused and his skin looked a little waxy but apart from that he was very much alive. His breathing was still ragged as we sat beside each other on the muddy bank for a while.

At some point during the debacle Luc had slipped off, he'd mentioned earlier that this was his street, "Sheldon I'm-" he silenced me with his hand.

"No, it's okay," we left it there.

_Sheldon's POV_

Penny helped pull me to my feet after we just sat there with the rain crashing into us from what seemed to be every direction for about ten minutes. I was so cold that I couldn't even feel the rain anymore. Penny's t-shirt had turned skintight and slightly see through which left very little to the imagination.

Inside the pick up Penny put the heater up on full blast and grabbed a pile of tartan blankets from the back seat, "Take off your shirt and wrap this around you," she instructed. I hovered slightly with the blanket in my hand. "Look away as well," then she tugged her own t-shirt over her head and my Lord. _My Lord. _Penny's black lace bra as her porcelain skin contrasted shockingly. I could make out the ghost of her ribs and a tiny Chinese symbol tattooed just below the side of her bra. Her sweats were low riding and showed off the tiniest teaser of a black lace thong. I crossed my legs.

Penny's POV

As soon as the blanket was wrapped firmly around my body Sheldon pulled his drenched t-shirt over his head. His skin was the lightest tan, I wasn't even sure if you could call it a tan. His stomach was ever so slightly concave and his bottom ribs stuck out a little. I'd been used to seeing muscled guys with huge pecks and six packs. Sheldon seemed kind of insecure about his body, which confused me, I thought he looked lovely, just lovely.

A/N: Okay, I don't want Penny to be made out as the bad guy here, she's one of my favourite TBBT characters and she's a sixteen-year-old girl who's just moved here and is still recovering from a yet-to-be-discovered event back home in Omaha. So yeah, review please


	6. Chapter 6

_Penny's POV_

The sky outside my window had grown dark with the storm but the streetlights hadn't yet turned on. I changed out of my rain soaked clothing slowly, the kiss with Luc turning over and over in my mind. _Did I really want to date Luc? _I asked myself repeatedly and I tossed my wet t-shirt into the corner of my room. The rain had turned into a light drizzle, I unlatched the bottom of my window and pushed it open so that the slight rain blew into my face.

Across the small stretch of grass between our houses I could see Sheldon through the crack in his blue plaid curtains. He was also getting undressed; his lamp cast a sort of orangey glow over his slender frame as he changed into a pair of red tartan pyjama shorts and a tight navy t-shirt.

I pulled on a pair of grey sweatpants and a pink vest and leaned out of the window slightly. "Sheldon!" I hissed. There was no answer.

I rummaged through my piggy bank and pulled out a cent, I flicked it against his window. Sheldon span around and saw me half hanging out of my window. He raised a finger as if to say, one moment and unlatched his own window. The window swung open and Sheldon leaned out.

"Hey," Sheldon's hair was already damp and tiny specks of rain landed on his mussed layers.

"Heya," I grinned, he looked a little sleepy and his cheeks were slightly rosy.

"Whassup?" Sheldon slurred, definitely sleepy.

"Want to go on an adventure?" Sheldon glanced at the clock just behind his right shoulder.

"An _adventure?"_ He looked sceptical, "Penny, I do not go on adventures." I rolled my eyes and climbed up onto my windowsill.

"Live a little Sheldon, show me around Galveston or something!" I exclaimed and grabbed the top of my window. Sheldon bit his lip and ran a hand through his unruly hair. "Wait," I stepped down off the window ledge and jogged across to my bedroom door, "MUM!" I shouted down the stairs,

"Yeah Pen?" My mum appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a glass in one hand and a dishcloth in the other.

"I'm having an early night,"

"But it's a Friday," Hell, I've never seen my mum look so suspicious.

"I'm tired out, all the rain and it was a pretty tough day at school," her features relaxed slightly, I faked a yawn and raced down the stairs to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"G'night!" I exclaimed. My mother's suspicious look followed my retreating back up the stairs. I waited on the other side of the door until I heard her potter back into the kitchen to resume doing the dishes. As quietly as I could I crept along the hallway to my sister's bedroom.

"Bev," I hissed quietly and knocked slightly. A moment later Beverly appeared at my door. She was wearing an oversized green tie-dye t-shirt that probably belonged to her boyfriend, Brad, from back home and nothing else apart from a brown leather necklace.

"Hey Penny," I took in my sister, Beverly was at least 3 inches taller than me with dark blue eyes and dirty blonde hair that was caught up in a messy ponytail. Several strands of hair framed her slim face and accentuated her high cheekbones; we were close enough in looks for what I needed her to do.

"Will you sleep in my room tonight, I need to sneak out, 3 hours max," Beverly chewed her lip in thought. There was a rotation of Beverly, TJ and me covering for each other when one needed to sneak out.

"Who're you sneaking out to meet?" Her lovely blue eyes narrowed.

"The guy from next door-" Bev cut off anything more that I was going to say with her expression.

"Aw hell no Pen, I'm not letting you sneak out to see Junior Cooper of all people,"

"No, not Junior, his little brother, Sheldon, he's really nice Bev, please?" I turned on my puppy dog eyes and stuck my bottom lip out. She sighed and pushed past me into the hall.

"Fine."

_Sheldon's POV_

Penny wanted to go on an adventure with _me? _What components decided that an outing was an adventure? I'd read plenty of books as a boy about adventures but they always consisted of inquisitive eight year olds embarking on adventures with pirates and their trusty companions. Was that really the same as your neighbour throwing pennies at your window and inviting you out for an adventure at 8pm on a Friday? I decided to change out of my sleeping clothes and changed into a tight black t-shirt and skinny jeans. I presumed that we'd be sneaking out so grabbed a black beanie and black Adidas gazelles, camouflage. I swung both of my legs out and grabbed onto the window frame feeling a little shaky. About 5 minutes after she'd disappeared Penny appeared at the window with a tall, good-looking girl in a tie-dye t-shirt. The taller girl studied me for a moment before leaning forward, "Mess with my sister and I mess with your balls okay?" I gulped and nodded fervently. The girl whispered something in Penny's ear before disappearing out of view.

"Ready?" I nodded. Penny slowly shifted into a crouching position on the window ledge and reached out slowly and wrapped her hands around the drainpipe next to her window.

I copied her movements and latched onto the pipe. Penny bunny hopped off the ledge and transferred her weight onto her arms. I jumped off the ledge and swung my hips so that my feet were pressed up against the outside wall of my house. Penny was now out of sight but I could still hear her scuffling down the wall opposite. I tried to find my footing as I travelled down the wall in tiny hops with my hands never leaving the drainpipe.

I landed on the wet strip of grass next to my house and heard Penny drop to the ground on the other side of the tall pine fence. I managed to creep stealthily along the side of my house and by keeping close to the fence and hedge make it out onto the road. Penny grinned at me from across the street. I jogged across and faced her. I started to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, I, Sheldon Cooper; PhD had climbed out of my bedroom window to meet up with the impulsive blonde from next door. It turned out that my laughter was infectious as Penny started laughing.

"We're free." She whispered into the night.


	7. Chapter 7

_Sheldon's POV _

For the first five minutes of our journey we raced along San Marino Drive while the wind and rain whipped against us, a permanent grin etched on my face. Penny found my wrist in the dark and dragged me alongside her so that we were practically flying down the street.

As we turned onto First St. Penny stopped and turned to face me.

"Sheldon?" I tried to recover my breath.

"Ye-ah?" I could barely make her out in the dark.

"Thanks for you know, going on this adventure with me," I wanted to thank her for taking me on this adventure but instead I just nodded, grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

We ran until my legs started to ache with fatigue and the lactic acid that had been released due to exercise. I stopped, bent over double as Penny gasped beside me. I raised my head slightly and realised where we were, Seawall Boulevard, and merely 50 or so metres away, the sea. Penny squeezed my hand.

"C'mon Sheldon, let's go walk along the beach." In all honestly, the idea of any more exercise made me want to vomit but the promise of walking along the beach with a pretty girl at nighttime was enough for me to straighten up and follow. The path that snaked down towards the sea was narrow and sandy. Penny raced ahead; I lost sight of her in the darkness but could still hear her shouts of:

"Hurry up Sheldon!" or "Get a move on!"

So I did. I chased after her, being careful to not trip over the rocks that littered the path until we finally burst out onto the stretch of beach and ocean that loomed in front of us.

Penny was just in front of me; she turned around slightly and grinned toothily at me. We walked along the beach in silence with our shoulders rubbing together. The waves crashed against the beach and our heavy breathing was synchronised.

_Penny's POV_

I'd forgotten how cold it was this time of night, especially when it was raining and here I was in a vest and jogging bottoms. Sheldon had goose bumps all over his arms and I was shivering with the cold. I gently wrapped my arm around Sheldon's slim waist and tucked into his side, he looked kind of surprised but after a slight pause encircled me with his long arms. Suddenly an idea sprung to the forefront of my mind,

"Let's go skinny dipping?" He held me at arms length and examined my face quizzically.

"Skinny dipping?" His voice cracked slightly.

"Yeah, you know when you get _naked _and-" he rolled his eyes.

"I know what skinny dipping is Penny, I just couldn't quite believe that you'd suggest something so stupid," I pouted and used my best puppy dog eyes shamelessly until he nodded his head ever so slightly in agreement.

"Underwear until the water okay?" His Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he took in a large gulp of the salty air.

"K," I grinned and ripped my vest over my head. Sheldon's eyes took in my body for the slightest moment before he pulled his own t-shirt over his head and undid the buckle on his jeans. Soon we were both stripped down to our underwear. The wind whipped my face but I didn't really feel quite so cold now that adrenalin was pumping through my veins.

"Ready?" He nodded, I reached out and shoved his shoulder playfully, "last one there's a loser!" Before racing off.

The sand kicked up behind me and my hair trailed after me. The sea rushed up entirely too quickly as I quickly undid my bra and slipped off my underwear. The water was so cold that my breath immediately seemed to vanish as I slipped forwards into the icy water. I bobbed under for a moment and the close to freezing water shot up my nose and filled my mouth. Then just as suddenly as I'd sunk under I was being hoisted out of the water by strong arms. I was too tired to struggle as I coughed out the seawater. Sheldon's arms were wrapped tightly around my waist and my body was slumped against his surprisingly hard chest. His hair was slicked back entirely and his cheeks were ever so slightly flushed. In the faint moonlight with the waves rippling around him he looked absolutely lovely. I fell against him and breathed heavily.

"We're even now okay?" Sheldon said quietly as I buried my face against neck. Hot, salty tears were slipping down my neck as I nodded fervently. Slowly Sheldon waded through the water until we were at the shore. He searched around for a moment before pulling on his boxers and chucking me my bra and knickers, "get dressed quickly," he disappeared for a moment before returning a moment later with a bundle of clothes.

_Sheldon's POV_

I tried my hardest (no pun intended) to not stare as I carried Penny's limp (and naked) frame out of the water and set her down on the sand. She was shaking so violently that she couldn't even get words out. I pulled on my boxers and quickly fetched our clothes. I dressed quickly as Penny's icy fingers struggled with the clasp on her bra. I dropped to my knees and carefully hooked it on for her. Penny smiled through chattering teeth and tenderly pulled on her vest and jogging bottoms. I helped her to her feet as we walked up towards the boulevard.

Soon enough we were back outside our houses. I grasped the crook of Penny's elbow and gently steered her across the road.

"Night Pen-" A pair of soft lips cut me off. Penny's lips felt like ice against mine as she pressed a chaste kiss to my slightly parted mouth before mumbling her goodnight and sashaying into the darkness.


End file.
